Strange airport in Az?
- Thread starter Boyington
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A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
It's a funny thing about that. It really depends on the neighborhood. We have the Joint Forces Los Alamitos base near us, (it is surrounded by Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Rossmore) and it's a pretty busy spot. I don't know how many helos or even all the types that are there (I know it's a boatload though, and have seen Black Hawks, Chinooks, Apaches, some UH-1H Hueys and I've seen Pave Hawks from other bases flying in and out of there along with Cobras and Scouts and a plethora of various military transport planes, a fighter once in a while) When you see and hear 6 Black Hawks overhead and low, it's pretty damn thrilling. And loud!!! lol When we toodle over to the Katella deli, the Costco, the Staples, Target, Rubios or other places nearby, I see a lot of people stopping, looking up and waving where they are standing, and waving from cars. You see a lot of the personnel around the area too and get to speak to them often and I think everyone is aware that the Black Hawks are often used around So. Ca. for mountain rescues, searches and support during the wildfires. The base performs a lot of different community work also. The Department of Agriculture and the Civil Air Patrol have planes there as well. My sister saw the two Marine Ones going in there several weeks back also.
I am sure some people complain, (there is always somebody who complains about something) but I've never heard much about it and I think most people around here enjoy seeing the various choppers and planes coming and going over there. Going to try and make the Wings, Wheels and Rotors show there this year.
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bc2209
Well-Known Member
Anyone know the details about this airport just to the South of Eloy, AZ?
Huh i'm going to have to look for that one tomorrow. Where are you flying out of:?
KSCessnaDriver
Well-Known Member
There is at least one of these type "airports" out in Alabama as well. I stumbled across it low level in an airship one day.
It's Picacho Stagefield, as mentioned. Owned and operated by the AZ Army National Guard out of Pinal Airpark / Silverbell Army Heliport.
One important thing to note that many pilots miss, is that even though there isn't a Class D ring around the field, because there is a control tower there, it must be treated like a Class D field, and two-way communication must be made to transit it at normal Class D altitudes/distances, in accordance with 14 CFR 91.126(d). Of course, this is only during its times of operation, as it's not 24/7, but its namely weekdays/nights and the occasional weekends.
Ft Rucker has many of these stagefields surrounding Rucker proper, for all types of helicopter pattern and contact training.
Picacho used to be an old WWII two-runway field that went abandoned until the late 1990s, when it was built to what you see it as now. There's a tower, a fire station, and a small rest area.
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NewYorkophile
Fly Casual
So how do they expect civilian traffic to know that, if they're transiting from A to B and passing right through that airspace?
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To know the FAR reg? Or to know the specifics to this field?
The reg should be known.
The field (KPCA is its identifier) is depicted on the PHX sectional along with it's tower/CTAF freq, and a recent change was a notation added to the sectional stating "CTC PCA TWR WITHIN 4 NM BLO 2500 FT AGL". I'd just noticed that change fairly recently myself, but it was added because it was getting missed often by pilots that the airfield was there. It's only marked as a heliport on the sectional, along with it's tower freq info, so I can see how it can be overlooked in the clutter of the sectional in that area.
To know the FAR reg? Or to know the specifics to this field?
The reg should be known.
The field (KPCA is its identifier) is depicted on the PHX sectional along with it's tower/CTAF freq, and a recent change was a notation added to the sectional stating "CTC PCA TWR WITHIN 4 NM BLO 2500 FT AGL". I'd just noticed that change fairly recently myself, but it was added because it was getting missed often by pilots that the airfield was there. It's only marked as a heliport on the sectional, along with it's tower freq info, so I can see how it can be overlooked in the clutter of the sectional in that area.
SLI is an interesting place. Its always funny seeing these Army Air Fields that used to be USAF or USN installations, but are now being used by the Army and so you have this huge airfield with a huge runway and ramp area, but only have a few C-12s or helos operating out of there. SLI is like that. BIF comes to mind as an old B-52 base. SVN used to have B-47s. Cool thing is, that you still occasionally see heavy jets coming into these places in support of Army activities.
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
Oh sure make me jealous just because you get to see every inch of the damn place and all I've ever seen is the stuff they put on display for the public every once in a while, in one small designated area. 
Hell, I've seen more stuff flying in and out of there over the years than I've ever gotten to see on the ground, actually.
It is a big place though. I know in the 40's it was originally a Navy base of some sort and I think this was around the time that the Navy took up digs at Reeves, Allen Field and expanded in Terminal Island. They were just a huge presence in Long Beach by the port, at LGB, and over in San Pedro for many decades. Really sad to see much of that gone now. At least we have the Iowa as a museum now and it's a pretty damn awesome ship with a remarkable history. I think the Army took over Los Alamitos sometime in the 70's. Don't know the exact year though.
Hell, I've seen more stuff flying in and out of there over the years than I've ever gotten to see on the ground, actually. It is a big place though. I know in the 40's it was originally a Navy base of some sort and I think this was around the time that the Navy took up digs at Reeves, Allen Field and expanded in Terminal Island. They were just a huge presence in Long Beach by the port, at LGB, and over in San Pedro for many decades. Really sad to see much of that gone now. At least we have the Iowa as a museum now and it's a pretty damn awesome ship with a remarkable history. I think the Army took over Los Alamitos sometime in the 70's. Don't know the exact year though.
Oh sure make me jealous just because you get to see every inch of the damn place and all I've ever seen is the stuff they put on display for the public every once in a while, in one small designated area.
It is a big place though. I know in the 40's it was originally a Navy base of some sort and I think this was around the time that the Navy took up digs at Reeves, Allen Field and expanded in Terminal Island. They were just a huge presence in Long Beach by the port, at LGB, and over in San Pedro for many decades. Really sad to see much of that gone now. At least we have the Iowa as a museum now and it's a pretty damn awesome ship with a remarkable history. I think the Army took over Los Alamitos sometime in the 70's. Don't know the exact year though.
Long Beach Naval yard used to be pretty huge. That's where they reactivated a good number of the battleships in the '80s during the Reagan buildup. Now it seems to be a shell of its former self.
Max1594
Well-Known Member
I just looked at the sectional and see what you're talking about, I noticed that it is depicted in blue, and yet there's no class D ring around the heliport, is there any reasoning behind that? If it's not class D then what is it, I'll admit that if I was transitioning through that area that it would not catch my attention without a class D or even E ring around it, I've never seen anything like that before.
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
You aren't a kidding.....shell is about it. There were hundreds of buildings there, cranes, miles of docks, dry docks, thousands of employees, dozens of ships that were permanently stationed there, you name it. That place was rocking 24/7. It's mostly all commercial container freighters there now. Hell, at one time they wanted to make it an industrial park and build a fricking Costco there. Talk about depressing.
I had a good friend (now passed) who was a retired Naval officer who lived in San Pedro, and he used to take me there to the exchange to shop, the bowling alley, pool tables, the bars and lounges and various places around the base. They even had like two swimming pools. We'd often have lunch and then go around and look at the different ships there and it was wonderful. He knew so much of the history of the ships, I always had a wonderful time. He took me there the day they brought the Missouri in for repairs. I never forgot that day. She was so incredibly long, and they had dozens of tugs working her and guys running around all over the dry dock area. It took a very long time and it was truly beautiful to see her. With all the guns and the huge ass tower, man it was impressive. It gave me chills to imagine her in action during WWII.
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There's a few fields like that around. PCA is considered E/G. G surface to 700AGL, E above that.
Here's a bit of trivia: On the PHX sectional, you look at PHR VORTAC, TFD VORTAC, TUS VORTAC, they all have a compass rose around them depicted. However, IWA has a VORTAC too, yet there is no compass rose depicted on the sectional, only on the TAC chart. Why?
Before the Spruce Goose was encased in it's dome home next to the Queen Mary way back when, I seem to remember prior to that, that it sat in some old hangar next to the water on the shoreline nearby for its entire life. I think I remember seeing it there once long ago. Does that hangar still exist?
And the Queen Mary, hasn't she been a money loss for a long time......to the point she was being considered to be closed? And does the QM actually float, or is it resting on the bottom?
fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
Both A and B airspace requires that you talk to ATC. Don't see the issue?
fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
The Spruce Goose hangar/dry-docks (there were 3 dry-docks) was removed in 1980. In 1979 I had the unique pleasure of touring the Spruce Goose while it was still in hiding (no camera's were allowed). A crew of 6 guys were still maintaining it. The NC numbers had been changed to N. A VOR had been installed and it was ready for flight. We walked out into the wing where there were platforms so engines could be serviced in flight. The aircraft was a one pilot plane, the second set of controls was nothing more than a hold this while I pee station. Despite the size of the Goose the cargo/pax deck was not much larger than a C-130.
Howard Hughes' private office was clean, lighted and air conditioned like he'd be coming back from the dead. The office furniture looked like a movie from the 40's.
One big problem with removing the Goose! The area (much of Long Beach) had sank 10 feet because so much oil had been pumped from the ground. Even at low tide flooding the dry dock would push the tail through the roof of the hangar. To remove the Goose the hangar had to be raised about 6' much like a house would be blocked up before moving.
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